The Green Box – Episode 6

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What is Blue Box like? Community score: 4.1

©三浦糀／集英社・ 「アオのハコ」製作委員会

“Wish Me Luck” opens with a scene that illustrates how Blue Box handles its teen drama better than many of its contemporaries and competitors, to the point where the term “melodrama” almost seems like a no-no. Inappropriate description. Last week, when Hina found out Taiki and Chinatsu lived together, we ended up in an emotional situation where Hina didn't know how to handle this new information bomb. Most shows would use that narrative tension to fuel at least a romantic misunderstanding subplot, if not a full story, but Hina only needed a second to calm down before she did what almost any reasonable person would do to her. situation: She asked the two of them what was going on.

It's a small but meaningful gesture because it further ensures that Blue Box won't be satisfied with taking the easy route. It's obvious to anyone who's seen the anime before that Hina is destined to become the childhood friend turned new lover who will form the third branch of the genre's prerequisite triangle. Blue Box is playing out that storyline as naturally as could be expected. She was lost in thought while wondering how Taiki and Chinatsu could be so bad at “being the protagonists of a love story”; she began fumbling her moves during crucial practice sessions for her ribbon dance competition; She found herself shedding a light tear or two as she remembered how close she had always felt to Taiki and what those feelings could transform into when she was faced with invasion. This new entry into their relationship status quo. By the end of the episode, we've developed as much emotional investment in Hina's feelings and perspective as Taiki's.

This could become a double-edged sword for Blue Box. On one hand, all of this excellent character work makes for a great episode (I especially appreciated how much the animators flexed their muscles with Hina's dance scenes). On the other hand, we now get more interiority for Hina than the actual heroine of this story, which may have been a cheap trick Blue Box pulled. Of course, we will be interested in Hina's feelings for Taiki after an episode like “Wish Me Luck”. However, I can't help but feel that this airtime comes at the expense of giving Chinatsu more to do than be an extremely beautiful and kind object of affection and jealousy.

As noted by Blue Box, we finally get some time inside Chinatsu's head at the end of the episode. It's not much because Chinatsu continues to feel bad about getting in the way of the feelings she perceives Taiki has for Hina, but it does remind us that she's aware of the precarious emotional state she's fallen into. . I wouldn't go so far as to say that the film's fate depends on its ability to balance personalities or anything—let's be honest, this is a gorgeous and heartwarming coming-of-age story needing a faceplant, it is difficult to lose trust from the audience at this time. However, I hope our girl Chinatsu will be born soon.

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Blue Box is currently streaming on Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other popular cultures, which you can also find on Twitterhis blog and podcast.